LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A former University of Nebraska-Lincoln student says in a lawsuit that school officials failed to stop a professor who sexually harassing her and retaliated after she reported the harassment.
The international student filed the federal lawsuit Sunday. She pursued a Ph.D. in UNL’s Mechanical and Materials Engineering program between 2014 and 2017, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
The lawsuit alleges the student was subjected to years of harassment by the unnamed professor. In one instance, he cornered her and kissed her against her will. The lawsuit says the professor was about 60 at the time and the student was 26 and married.
The student complained to UNL’s Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance, turning over dozens of inappropriate emails from the professor and documents detailing the ongoing harassment, the lawsuit says. She says she was met with indifference by Title IX investigators and pressured to drop her case.
After the student rebuffed the professor’s advances and complained to Title IX officials, the professor demoted her on a paper that she had been working on, and cut her research position, the lawsuit says. The professor also continued to harass her as the case dragged on, the lawsuit says. The student eventually left the UNL program.
Title IX investigators determined that the faculty member had violated university sexual harassment policy, but downplayed the harassment and retaliation against the student, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and an unspecified amount in damages.
UNL said in a statement that it can’t comment on the case, citing pending litigation, but that it considers the health and safety of all students of the “upmost importance.”
The lawsuit follows a Title IX complaint filed by nine former and current UNL students, including some student-athletes, who also accused the university of failing to adequately respond to and investigate their claims of sex discrimination.
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